oo roughly, the
noise might attract them, and they might come in chase of me. Before
moving I examined my gun to see that it was ready for instant use. My
hope was that I might kill one of the terrible creatures and so frighten
the others and obtain time to reload. Even the young ones were no
contemptible opponents, should they fly at my legs or seize me by the
arms while I was engaged with their parents. This, however, they were
not likely to do unless endowed with more sagacity than the ape tribe
are generally supposed to possess. Still if their wisdom was in
proportion to their size, they might attack me in a way which would give
me very little chance of escaping in spite of my gun. I, however, felt
much more confidence with that in my hand than I should have done
without it. Never did thief creep away more carefully out of a house
than did I from the bower of those terrific apes. I had not believed
that such enormous creatures existed. Night was rapidly coming on, for
what I could tell there might be others in the neighbourhood. To spend
a night by myself in those wilds was anything but pleasant to
contemplate. As soon as I could venture to move fast, without the risk
of being heard by the huge apes, I retreated rapidly. I was not aware
at the time that I had fallen in with a family of the largest existing
specimens of the ape tribe since known as the terrible gorilla, although
at that time I was ignorant of its name. I was only too soon to become
in a terrible way better acquainted with the creature.

As I have described I was endeavouring to get as far off as possible
from the fearful monsters, when the sun having set, it became almost
immediately dark. The thick foliage overhead hid the stars from my
sight so that I could not tell in what direction I was going, whether to
the north or south, and although I occasionally got a glimpse of one
amid the boughs, it could not thus seen serve as a guide to me. I
pictured to myself the danger of thus wandering through the forest by
myself, for although I might grope my way amid the trees, yet I might be
pursued by a leopard or lion, or I might tread on some venomous snake or
get into the presence unexpectedly of a herd of elephants. For some
time I was afraid of shouting or firing my rifle, lest I might attract
the attention of those monster apes. At length, thinking I had got
sufficiently far off not to bring them down upon me, and that I might
after all